Clicking the button on someone’s blog with that little blue bird on it doesn’t count. I’m talking about composing a tweet. Writing something. All the cool kids are doing it. I’ve lost count of how many hashtag games there are on Twitter.

If you’re a writer not taking part in any of the prompts on there, you’re missing out.

Why are you missing out? Here’s why: Microbursts. Get it? Micro fiction bursting with story. This one is not a real thing—it’s something I completely made up for my book but totally should be a thing. (For my fellow nerds, yes, microbursts are real but they are a weather phenomenon so don’t go there. We’re talking about writing. Focus, people!) You’d be surprised how much you can fit in a tweet.

Let’s talk about how this fast-paced platform helps you become a better writer.

Way 1 – Learn to Be Concise

You have to be brief when writing a scene, story, or joke in 140 characters or less. Even if you tend toward the dark side of verbosity, you can tweet. If you’re naturally wordy, you won’t be. You can’t be. It’s 140 characters. With a hashtag. You can’t afford to be long-winded. Succinct is the secret. The limit forces you to edit. Every. Word. Counts. Cut the crap, you know? Get rid of it. If it doesn’t fit in that tiny tweet, make it fit. Writers from all genres do this every day on Twitter.

You: “So, Sarah, that was cool and all but why would I need tweets on my blog?”

Me: “What?! Because!”

You: …

Me: “It’s awesome, that’s why!”

You: …

Me: “Okay. I’ll tell you.”

These embedded tweets are… Psst… Come closer… *whispers* Interactive.

I know, right? How cool is that?! Readers can do anything right from your blog.

Open your tweet

Visit your timeline

Check out a hashtag

Follow

Like

Retweet

Reply

Everything is clickable. It’s basically a live tweet. One that you’ve highlighted. One that you want to share with your blog readers.

I do like Twitter but, let’s face facts, that thing moves like ticker tape. It’s so easy to miss tweets from your tweeps. Depending on how often you post, that tweet is going to be much more visible here.

And it doesn’t have to be just one. You can make an entire post from tweets. Maybe you’ve had an interesting conversation about traditional vs indie publishing. Or the best way to make brownies. Or whether spiders or rats have had better PR. (I’ve had that last convo quite recently: Mickey Mouse and Spider-Man. It was weird.)

Regardless, it makes for a fun post and people can interact with each tweet by liking, retweeting, and even replying to it right from your blog.

Here’s a neat thing you can do with those tweets right here on your WordPress blog. It’s wicked cool. And easy. 3 steps…done.

All of you lovely bloggers know I’m not a techie but I wanted to share this fun find with you.

I have visuals, too, which is awesome. Admittedly, I went a bit bonkers with the arrows but…you get the point. (I know. I’m hilarious.)

First we’re going old school with a “cut and paste” URL option, then we’ll embed an html code like we know what we’re doing.

No need to hurt your eyes squinting at the screenshots—you can click to enlarge them. Let’s get tweeting on our blogs.

Copy Link Option:

STEP ONE:

Choose the tweet you want. Click on the cute, little grey v-shaped thingy in the top, right corner.

Click to enlarge

STEP TWO:

You’ll see a drop-down menu with all sorts of neat things like “pin to your profile page” (or “unpin” if it’s already pinned), “share via DM”, and “delete tweet” (for those times when Twitter decides to add a typo after you’ve posted). Click on “Copy link to Tweet”.

Click to enlarge

Here is what you’ll see. Select and copy. It’s a URL so you can use this anywhere you’d use a link. (UPDATE: OCTOBER 2017 – There is no longer a URL to cut and paste. Once you click on “Copy link to Tweet”, the URL is automatically copied.)

Click to enlarge

STEP THREE:

Open a post and paste the copied link. You’ll be in “visual” view for this. Hey! There’s a tweet!

Click to enlarge

Copying the link works well on WordPress but may not work on other platforms. On a website, for example, this option will simply create a URL to the tweet.

Embed Code Option:

STEP ONE:

We’re going to embed that tweet now. Hold on to your hats. Choose the tweet you want. Click on the cute, little grey v-shaped thingy in the top, right corner. There’s that drop-down menu. Click on “Embed Tweet”.

Click to enlarge

Here is what you’ll see. Select and copy the html code.

Click to enlarge

STEP TWO:

Open a post. Switch to “text” view. Paste the code. Hmm…there’s a bunch of html stuff there I don’t understand. *shrugs*

Click to enlarge

STEP THREE:

Let’s switch to “visual” view and see what happens… There they are! Except, erm, they look different. Click “Preview”.

Click to enlarge

No worries! When you preview, they look the same.

Click to enlarge

Embedding has a few more options and benefits but, for the sake of brevity (and for those who don’t play well with html), these are two ways to get a tweet into a WordPress post. Pick one, have fun, and tweet on.

Tune in tomorrow, Same Bat-Time, Same Bat-Channel, for my follow-up post on embedding tweets. What they are and why you want to use them.

Then again, I could just pin it or copy and paste it into a new tweet… So, I guess, I’m back to my first reaction. Retweeting yourself is weird.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Do you retweet yourself? Did you know you could retweet yourself? Do you find any benefits to retweeting yourself that I’m completely missing? Did you notice how I just like saying ‘retweet yourself’ because I’m immature and find it amusing?

As you know, I created a writing prompt for my tweeps. It’s been wicked fun and I know a couple writers who have already used their tweets to write a flash or blog post (myself included).

But this is a new venture and I’m working out the kinks. So, today, I’ve ditched my poor Thought Bubble in favor of a follow-up FAQ to the original #Tweets4Blogs post.

I have a hat. For real. I’m using the old pick-a-name-out-of-a-hat trick. (Hee. Hat trick. Nice.) Anyway, each week, I’ll put in slips of paper with forms on them (1 line, memoir, haiku, etc.) to decide what we’ll be writing that week.

Yes. This is exactly what you’ve gotten yourself into. A prompt from a hat. But, hey, don’t underestimate the power of a hat. I mean, Harry Potter was sorted by one. It gave him a sword to defeat the basilisk in the (secret) chamber of secrets. Also, it sings. Wicked powerful.

After the hat business, I’ll make up a prompt. It’s going to be silly sometimes so bear with me.

Remember our mantra: It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

I want you to have buckets full of gems to dig through for your blog so, when I create the prompt, I’ll keep that in mind. But I’ll also be thinking that I want you to have fun.

Don’t take yourself too seriously. It’s unbecoming. And not allowed. I’m very strict about this rule.

When the heck are you doing this? Tuesdays. (I will pin the prompt to the top of my Twitter timeline.)

Is there a due date? No. These are ideas, sparks of inspiration. For you. Sticking to Tuesdays gives you a better chance at making sure you write weekly but, basically, “whenever” is a good time to tweet.

Should I “reply” to your tweet? No need to “reply” to my prompt, just write your own tweet using the hashtag #Tweets4Blogs. Also, you don’t need to link back to me, my tweet, or my blog. These are for your own, special Twitter library.

How do I write the hashtag? Hashtags are not case-sensitive so whether you write #Tweets4Blogs, #TWEETS4BLOGS, or #tweets4blogs, you’re good.

What are we writing? We’ll be using various forms of poetry and prose (see Forms below). Each form should follow the prompt for that week.

How many should I write? As many as you’d like. If you have time for one, write one. If you want to write two, ten, twelve, go for it.

Will you RT every tweet? I’ve actually decided not to RT these. Here’s why.

First, these are for you. I want the #Tweets4Blogs hashtag to be a fun way to get you tweeting interesting material that you can find in one quick step.

Second, I don’t want to miss anyone. It is SO easy to do. (I know this because I missed a few last week.) How did I manage that? I’ll tell you. Writers respond to the prompt on different days. Also, some people participating in this have private accounts so their tweets don’t show up under the hashtag. In addition, some Twitter twerps have started using the hashtag for their own nefarious purposes and mucking up the feed. Damn them! (It’s only been two weeks—how did they even find us???) So there you have it. Just know I am reading and loving these tweets you’ve written.

Forms:

First line – One sentence (the, erm, first line)
1 line – One sentenceMicro fiction – A story/piece of fictionMemoir – Nonfiction (about you or, at least, based on a true story)6 words – Um. This would be six words (See what I did there?)Haiku – A 3 line poem using the 5/7/5 format. First line 5 syllables. Second line 7. Third line 5.

Prompts:

This will be anything from “cookies” to “a 7-yr-old trying to take over the world”.

You’ll soon have a collection of awesome stuff you’ve written which you can quickly and easily find on Twitter. Using the search bar, enter your handle and the hashtag. Like this:

And, just like magic, all your words will pop up for you to admire and, hopefully, use on your blog.

Go forth and tweet, my fellow word weavers! And, remember our mantra:It doesn’t have to be good, it just has to be done.

A few tweeps wanted to participate last week and said their writing was kind of, um, bad (for lack of a better word). My answer to that is as follows:

“No, no! You’re thinking about this all wrong. Bad writing, clichés, fragments, adverbs… All good. This is a no-pressure prompt! Now go write!” See? No pressure. *mwah* Believe it or not, even what you think of now as “bad” writing can later spark an idea for a beautiful blog post. It happens. Trust me.

Scroll through your Twitter account. Tweeting doesn’t carry the same pressures as other types of writing. They’re often spontaneous, unfiltered thoughts.

Tweets have your voice, your experiences, your opinions. And something about the content made you want to put it in writing and publish it.

Not all that glitters is gold, though, right?

So let those zingers and one-liners be. If it fit into 140 characters neatly, leave it alone. Or pin it to your profile page. But don’t drag it out and drag us through a post about something that should have been left on your timeline. If you have to force it, let it be.

Otherwise, grab that tweet and spin it like Rumpelstiltskin.

Illustration by Paul Zelinksky

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Do you ever look through your Twitter (or Facebook) timeline? Do you grab ideas/words/stories from there?

If a tweet falls on a timeline and no one clicks it does it make an impression?

We’ve all blogged into The Nothing. Most of us, anyway. Blah, blah, publish… Crickets.

(Or grasshoppers. I always mix those up. Actually, we found a huge one of these insects a few weeks ago and it turned out to be a katydid. Cool, huh? Just agree. Indulge my inner nerd.)

What about tweeting into The Nothing?

I’m not sure what a tweet actually does if it doesn’t translate to a visit to your blog—a comment, a reading, or a simple “like”. I’m not that great at math but when I see 15 RTs and 2 visits…

“Tweet Activity” is mind-boggling: Impressions, Engagements, Retweets, Interactions, Link Clicks… They even have percentages, line charts, bar charts… It’s wild that I get to see that data & info and you don’t. I feel like the Great and Powerful OZ.

Here’s what you see: I tweeted your post and it only has 1 retweet. Here’s what you don’t see: 12 Link Clicks. Or, conversely, you see 12 retweets but don’t see there’s only 1 Link Click.

Things aren’t always what they seem.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Do you view your Tweet Activity?

If a tweet falls on a timeline and no one clicks it does it make an impression?

I’m not sure how many writers actually saw the question, which was only up for 24 hours, but I did get an answer. And here it is:

Wait. WHAT? Are you serious? A tie? A 50/50 split? Stupid poll. I was right. I don’t trust this thing. It’s evil.

And I am back where I started. So now I’m using my blog as a poll. A better poll. I will get answers. I will know who voted. I will receive explanations as to why people voted the way they did. Right? Of course right. Thanks, gentle readers.

Really, if you think about it, blogs are just big polls.
(Related ‘Thought Bubble’)

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

Whether or not you saw this or voted, what are your thoughts? As a writer, which social media platform is most beneficial? And if I get a tie, I’m going to send you low-fat, sugar-free cupcakes until you vote. Oh, yes, they do exist.Don’t make me send fat-free…

Ooh! Also, I’ll give a gold star ⭐ to the first person to give the correct number of times the word “poll” (or “polls”) was used in this one poor post.

ETA: You know, the answer could be 11, 12, 13…less or more. Because I didn’t specify if you were to count the words in the title, photos, or tags. So… “YOU get a star! YOU get a star! YOU get a star! Everybody gets a star!”

This morning, I did pause. And was rewarded with red squirrels, grey squirrels, and chipmunks racing through bushes, chasing each other. Mourning doves cooed. Chickadees tweeted and blue jays squawked, fluttering from maples to pines.

I watched the clouds drift from brushstrokes into dragons and marveled at how the sky directly above the tree line is a watery blue which deepens in hue as your eyes travel upward—so subtle you’d miss it if you weren’t absorbed in its color.

I sat on my porch peeking between branches, at the ground, in the sky, dipping my finger in dew drops on our mini-pumpkins, all the while enjoying the intoxicating smell of my morning coffee and sipping the delicious brew.

I looked, listened, smelled, tasted, and touched. I used all my senses to appreciate the world around me. I didn’t stop. I paused. A minor distinction, perhaps, but a world of difference to me.

People are always saying I need to ‘stop’ when what I really needed was to ‘pause’.

My Sunday thoughts in 200 words or less.

When is the last time you paused? Took life in? Enjoyed the moment? Take a pause today, gentle readers.